Jamie Oliver Announces His TED Wish; Mine? Ketchup

Occasionally I get extremely frustrated and upset with the hijacking of our modern food supply; other times I feel so invigorated by the snowballing movement to reclaim what we eat.

Today is a good day.

Jamie Oliver, the English chef and winner of the 2010 TED Prize, just announced his TED Wish:

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

(According to the TED Prize website, “The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, "One Wish to Change the World." Designed to leverage the TED community's exceptional array of talent and resources, the Prize leads to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.”)

But even those of us not within the TED community can help make a difference. If we all become a little more aware of the basic issues of our food system (simple premise: synthetic additives are everywhere), we’ll make better decisions for ourselves and our families.

One or two changes every several weeks can make a difference.

This week’s change? How about we replace our conventional ketchup with organic ketchup? The difference in cost is negligible, the lycopene (an antioxidant found in tomatoes) content is much greater and the tomatoes used are not sprayed with harsh pesticides.

Aren’t our children and grandchildren worth it?